


After Abandonment

by Missy



Category: Gone With the Wind, Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
Genre: Comfort, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-16
Updated: 2011-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-14 19:26:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/152643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five months after Ashley abandons her for Scarlett, Melanie Wilkes calls on Captain Butler for tea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After Abandonment

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Comment_fic

Melanie Hamilton had dwelled in the false midnight of her cloistered home for five months before she dared to show her face in Atlanta again, and only for a simple, short trip to the Butler’s home. Even then, it wasn't her own welfare she thought of but Bonnie's; the child might need feminine guidance, now that her mother dallied free and fancy in Ireland. Melanie held her chin high as she knocked on Captain Butler’s front door.

Prissy answered it (another person left behind by Scarlett – one of the many, Melanie noted anxiously), then she flitted upstairs to see if Rhett was willing to take in visitors. While Melanie waited, she noticed Bonnie playing in the parlor with a quill pen, spilling ink across an empty bank book.

“Bonnie Blue!” tisked Melanie. “You mustn’t destroy your father’s things.”

Bonnie looked up at Melanie with Scarlett’s defiant eyes. “Papa gave it to me. HE said I could,” she said quite defiantly.

“And so he must have,” Melanie replied. “Are you feeling well?”

“Papa got me a new kitten,” Bonnie declared, playing with the feathered end of the quill. Then Melanie heard a door open at the top of the hallway and the stagger of Captain Butler’s alcohol-influenced walk.

“Misses Wilkes,” he bowed for her, and she deeply curtseyed.

“Captain Butler,” she said. “Are you feeling well?”

“Right as a robin.”

“Are you sure? It must be…difficult,” she strained not to say the words she longed to in front of Bonnie.

“We’re getting along,” he gave Bonnie a fond look. The girl continued to dash the book with streams of ink. “Bonnie,” he said, “why don’t you check the kitchen? I think Delicy’s made some of her ginger buttons.”

The child leapt up and scampered with delight to the designated direction, but not before kissing her father quite soundly. Rhett watched her go, then said, “Missus Wilkes, do you take the same comfort in your child as I do mine?”

“I do,” she smiled to recall Beau, happily playing with Aunt Pittypat. She reached tentatively for his shoulder and guided him toward the couch and the small tea service Mammy had prepared. “We have fine tea and biscuits,” she said, “we shouldn’t let them spoil.”

Rhett immediately plucked a cigar from the holder beside his chair. “I wouldn’t want to disappoint a lady.”

They ate in silence, Melanie’s fingers steepled against the cup. “Have you heard from them?” she finally asked.

Rhett’s fingers stiffened against his cup of coffee. “Yes. A telegram posted from County Cork a few days ago. And a fine lady such as yourself shouldn’t ask what it said.”

Melanie couldn’t help but wonder, sinful as that wondering was. “They’ll return,” she said, sweet and earnest as she’d ever been.

“You are far too sweet, Missus Wilkes,” said Rhett. “The world could use more women like you.”

And less like Scarlett, Melanie realized he meant. But she said nothing more, watching Rhett drink. “They will,” she said, calm, serene. And Rhett didn’t have the will to object.


End file.
